I was a child of divorce. My parents split when I was 3, officially divorced when I was 5 or 6. It was a bad split. My mom wouldn't allow my dad to see us often for the first few years. We were in preschool and I learned to read there.

However, with a single mom that worked full time and tried to have some sort of social life, it didn't leave much time at all for her to read to myself or my sister. She also didn't do a great job keeping on our schoolwork.

By 5th grade, I had fallen behind by a complete lack of effort from myself or my parents. They spoke to my parents about keeping me in 4th grade another year, but my parents scoffed at the idea.

My 5th grade teacher knew my dad and thought I was a bright kid that just didn't do anything. She put me with the "smart" kids in class and required us to read 3 books every 6 weeks and submit reports on them. I started going to my dad's after school who required me to do any & all homework before I was allowed to eat, play, go to games or practice.

Halfway through the year, I hadn't received less than an A in any subject and she sent me off for gifted evaluation, which I passed. I spent the remainder of that year and all of junior high in the gifted/enrichment programs offered through my school.

By high school, I was enrolled in all honors & AP classes and was a year ahead on several subjects. My dad stopped forcing me to do my homework, so I stopped. Ended up graduating on time, having taken 5 AP classes, however my GPA was shit and so was my class rank, because without discipline, I just wouldn't try.